Azmatkhan


Azmatkhan al-Husayni, also spelled Azmat Khan, al-Azhamatkhan or al-Azhamat Chan are a family originating in Hadhramaut. They trace their lineage to Sayyid Abd al-Malik Azmatkhan ibn Alawi Ammul Faqih, a descendant of Husayn ibn Ali. Sayyid Abd al-Malik emigrated from Hadhramaut to India in 14th century AD, earlier than other emigrations from Hadhramaut.
al-Husayni later married a daughter of Nasirabad nobility and acquired "Azmat Khan" title. "Khan" title was given in order to consider him as the local nobility. In addition, they put "Azmat" which means "noble" because Abd al-Malik was originated from sayyid lineage. His descendants still retain this name as their patronymic until today.
His descendants spread to Pattani, Cambodia, Malay, and Indonesia. Malaysian Asyraf Union records that Sunan Gresik, the foremost Sufi saint of Wali Sanga, was a descendant of Abd al-Malik al-Azmatkhan. Since he was father of Sunan Ampel and grandfather of Sunan Bonang, then most of Wali Sanga were of Azmatkhan's descent.
According to Al-Habib Salim bin Abdullah al-Shatiri Al-Husaini, Grand sheikh of Tarim, Yemen, Azmatkhan family were ahl al-bayt from the first wave of Ba 'Alawi sada migration to Indonesia for preaching Islam.
Due to the long history of extensive intermarriage, notably with local nobility, most of them are physically and culturally indistinguishable from the local population. In Indonesia, it is not uncommon for an Azmatkhan family member to have hereditary royal title such as Raden, Tubagus, Masagus, Masayu, Kemas, or Nyimas. They maintain their Indonesian identity and Azmatkhan ancestry at the same time. Some of them, however, cannot trace their ancestry anymore.
In order to record and keep genealogy of Azmatkhan family, Rabithah Azmatkhan was founded. Rabithah Azmatkhan eventually prompted the formation of Rabithah Fatimiyah in 2010, a similar organization which aims to record genealogy of every descendant of Fatimah Az-Zahra, Muhammad's daughter and the mother of all sayyids.

Notable persons